The invention relates to a device for winding and unwinding cables onto a cable drum, the device including a portal-like supporting frame which is provided with two bracket arms that are suspended from a transverse crossbar and are adjustable in their distance from one another. Each arm includes a stationary arm portion and at least one arm portion that can be moved longitudinally in the manner of a telescope and by way of a lifting drive from a lower receiving position into an upper winding position. A rotatably mounted spindle pin arranged to receive the cable drum and oriented toward the other bracket arm is disposed at the free end of each longitudinally movable arm portion.
A device of the above described type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,385. The advantage of this known winding device is that the bracket arms are always able to accommodate cable drums of any desired size within certain diameter ranges starting from a predetermined winding position defined by the shortest arm length. The drawback of the prior art device is that the bracket arms, except for their telescope-like longitudinal mobility and the spindle pins, are of a rigid construction so that cable drum and winding device must be accurately aligned with one another in order to be able to introduce the spindle pins into the central bores of the cable drum to pick up the drum. Positioning devices conceivable for large cable drums offer no solution, particularly if, for example, in connection with heavy cable drums made of wood, the lateral delimiting discs are offset relative to one another after repeated use and the lateral openings at the cable drum itself are no longer flush with one another.
German Unexamined Published Patent Application DE-OS 2,713,866 discloses a winding device for cables in which a support provided at each one of two vertical lateral supports is guided so as to move up and down and wherein the spindle pins are suspended in the support in a pendulum fashion, with each support being provided with its separate drive with the aid of which the spindle pin is raised by a small amount and is thus arrested with respect to its pendulum movement. The supports are then raised as a whole by their drives to the predetermined winding position. The prior art device is very expensive and requires additional controls for the actuation of the individual functions.